Another 365 days come to an end and we are ready to welcome a fresh start to yet another year: 2022. Over the years many design styles and trends have come and gone, some stay in our hearts and some are evergreen styles that cannot be blurred.

With this year-end, we bring to you our 21 Picks for 2021 in the Category of Architecture.

MISTRY ARCHITECTS – Casa Aum

Casa AUM – A Residence with an exemplary portrayal of all the envisioned elements coming to reality. This design has a sweet balance of Mediterranean Architectural Elements blending with the climate context of Gujarat. What catches the eye apart from this stunning amalgamation of a house is the leverage of Sunlight as an element. Dancing through the areas, the shadow and light add to the elegance of interiors. A Moroccan Themed Residence along with a mix of proportionate Earthy Color Palette soothes the eyes. ~ Radha Hirpara (Editor)

FINDER STUDIO – Kecherile Veedu

Traditional Kerala homes are rich in memories; of the long-forgotten smell of the first rain, the sound of raindrops falling in the courtyard, people sitting and conversing around it, the feeling of the warmth of mud walls and wood, the coziness of spaces; one may find him or herself drifting into their nostalgic memories of yesteryears every once in a while.

UA LAB – The Gable House

The Site is in a Residential dense urban neighborhood. It is a rectangular plot at the cul-de-sac. Outdoor opens spaces are always refreshing for everyone. We wanted all the inner spaces to have seamless connections to the open spaces outside. For which the Garden and Courtyard were conceptually conceived first on the site plan, followed by sheltered protected residential spaces. 

DEEARTH ARCHITECTS – Open Living House

Located in Saligramam, Chennai, this upscale home is carefully crafted & envisioned to give a serene escapade brimming with earthy luxuriance for a family of 5, despite being situated amidst the dense urban concrete jungle. With roads on both east & north sides, the 14 cents square plot is closely enveloped by residential & commercial spaces.

THE DESIGN ROOM – Aaron’s Courtyard

The 15-cent site with an existing house, a warehouse bounded by numerous fruit trees, is located only a kilometer away from Kollam beach, Kerala. Nestled in a quiet neighborhood with a lush green landscape the client desired to have a house that seamlessly blends with the surroundings.

PMA MADHUSHALA – Gadi House

There is an attempt to find a link between the traditional understanding and modern-day life. The design philosophy draws inspiration from the regional house form called ‘Gadi’, its elements, spatial planning, and details of ornamentations and fenestrations. ‘A Gadi’ is like a small fortress with thick walls secured from outside, with internal courts, balconies, common areas that create an interesting hierarchy of open, semi-open, and enclosed spaces. All these elements are then redefined to find solutions that cater to the present modern needs and construction systems. In this process, where architecture is serving the present needs while imbibing traditional understandings, the building then emerges as a timeless entity.

I2A ARCHITECTS STUDIO – The Mango House

Located in Kerala’s Thrissur District, the ‘Mango house’ thrives to inscribe minimalist modernity as its design language while sharing a humble relationship with its immediate vicinity. As the project name duly indicates, the salient feature of the design would be the site’s resident old Mango tree which is wrapped around a layer of jali screens shaping into an external courtyard near the sit out. This was an attempt to merge the existing predominant site feature seamlessly with the introduced built environment.

TRAANSPACE – The Brick Connection

The brick connection is a house designed for a very simple, well-traveled couple wishing to settle in their homeland, a little away from the chaos of the city. Grounded close to nature, this couple wanted a vastu compliant house, which reflects this closeness to roots as well as their elegant personality. Very clear with their thoughts and requirements, they wanted their home to be coherent in terms of space utilization and energy efficiency. Located in the outskirts of Vadodara on a 7400 sqft plot, this house holds true to its promises.

THE GRID ARCHITECTS – Casa Bianca

Casa Bianca, literally, the white house, is a tranquil home set in urban Ahmedabad. The home holistically integrates light, air, greenery, materials, and views, through an architectural vocabulary that emanates serenity and harmony. The house is on a corner plot and sits alongside the internal road of a gated community, overlooking the landscape. The land was surrounded by existing mature trees on the periphery, which was left untouched. The built volume and the layout design are ruled by the sun path integrating and allowing the free flow of natural light and air.

DIPEN GADA & ASSOCIATES – Chiku Abode

This weekend house for the shah family is situated in the outskirts of Bharuch, Gujarat. Within the dense 50-Year-old Chiku plantations which is the main attraction and the challenge while designing the house. Total farmland is about 8 Lakh Sq. Ft out of that we have selected 1,50,00 Sq. Ft of the area which is having more than 30 fully grown chiku trees.

GREYSCALE DESIGN STUDIO – Brickly Affair Residence

It was a joy to design for interactive clients as Sushma and Srinidhi who come with a design view and vision on how they want their abode to feel. They wanted the language of the rawness of material to speak in their residence. Emphasis has been to bring about maximum beauty of every raw material used and let it speak.

MS DESIGN STUDIO – Brick Screen House

A house should reflect the taste and personality of its owner and the architects’ ability to make the whole come together and form a space fit for its occupants and its context. And that’s the philosophy we followed while designing this residence. The house follows a subtle Indian and earthy aesthetic as per the client’s taste and has been designed keeping in mind the climatic conditions of the place.

BETWEEN SPACES – Cuckoo’s Nest

Cuckoo’s Nest is built on a corner plot measuring 45’x75’ with roads on the western and northern edge in a gated layout and surrounded by a silver oak tree and some palm trees. The brief was to design a house that is simple, pragmatic, and modern for aging parents of the owners, the owners themselves, and their two sons. The entire narrative of this house is constructed around the idea of playfulness and pragmatism. The name Cuckoo’s Nest alludes more to the playful imagery of Cuckoo’s clock.

SRIJIT SRINIVAS ARCHITECTS – White Skube House

The design brief from clients Mrs. Saseenkumari & Mr. Jayakumaran Thampy for their second home on a five cents ( or 202 square meters) property in a densely settled part of Trivandrum city, was a pithy requirement for ‘something special’.  The building was intended to house their joint family consisting of their son and his wife, as well their daughter – all of whom are medical doctors.

ARCH.LAB – House Within

Located at the junction of two arterial roads, the house is constructed on a site located at the edge of a street of row houses. Hence the primary challenge was to balance the privacy of the residents and the intake of natural light through the street-facing facades.

KN ASSOCIATES – R-House

Distinctive R-House residence binds several captivating experiences celebrating Indian architecture. A remarkable feature of this residence is the zero friction transition between the outdoor and indoor spaces. Various architectural elements like double heights, outdoor porch, water body, and landscape rightly justify the socio-cultural sensibilities of the residents along with being extremely climate responsive. Zooming in, the minimally ornate woodwork honors the local artisans. This pays a fair tribute to Mr. Louis Sullivan’s motto, Form Follows Function. ~ Yamini Vaswani

EARTHITECTS – Experiential Resort, Hampi

This experiential resort leads you to the old-world charm of prehistoric times and liberates you for a little tete-a-tete with the sculptural forms and ornamental details. An element of pristine luxury is the Jal Mehal suite with the living room. Looking over the ancient city, landscapes, and private pool, it’s ironic how the unbuilt will constantly exchange dialogues with you while you will wish to keep listening more. The ‘mashaals’ light up the wall and the royal drapes glow, mimicking a queen’s luxury enclosure. After a brief, would you say it’s a modern take on luxury, or is it the archival luxury that is needed to experience in modern times? ~Yamini Vaswani

DADA AND PARTNERS – The Courtyard House

This 500 Sq.m Urban plot is programmed as a sustainable live-work unit with the lower two levels as the studio space and the upper two as their family residence. The most fundamental ambition that generated this live-work typology was to pull the Sky into the lower work floors and to push the Earth upwards to the upper levels of habitation.

ROY ANTONY ARCHITECTS – Alankar Residence

Alankar Residence for Mr. Shahabudeen is one of the recently completed projects by our firm. It is located within 4kms of the Changanassery town-center, in a residential neighborhood. Situated on a 4400 sq. ft. property, with an average site elevation of 1.2 m., the total building area surmounts to 4900 sq. ft.

ADND – Casa Feliz

Is there something called inside-outside balance? What does that mean precisely? The tangible blurred between the inner and outer world of this house suffuses intangible experiences for this Residence. Transcending into a calm world requires a certain momentum which this house design immensely furnishes. The design not just stops there, the introduction of the stand-alone wooden elements enhances the richness and gives closure to this open house plan of Casa Feliz by ADND. – Radha Hirpara (Editor)

URBAN NARRATIVES – Myst

Situated in a crowded and cluttered neighborhood in the Northern District of the City of Hyderabad, Myst Salon offers an inviting experience that detaches the customer from the commotion of everyday life. Designed as a Salon and Spa retreat, it functions as a getaway place to take time off for self-care and enjoy afternoon tea. Myst treats hairstyling as a creative discipline, incorporating simplicity and grace into its works, taking away the flashy decor. Our goal was to translate their philosophy into tangible concepts, and their pedagogy flows into every aspect of our design.